Managing battery life of a user equipment (UE) in the presence of multiple access options (e.g., LTE and Wifi) is generally performed manually. When a user notices that the battery level is getting low, the user turns off the Wifi access. In some cases, this is automated by an application which disables capabilities on the UE (like Wifi access) when the battery level falls below a threshold.
A Multi Path TCP (MPTCP) protocol, as specified by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) (RFC6824), allows for reverse multiplexing of flows to exploit multiple IP paths between a sender and a receiver. The entire contents of RFC 6824 (“the MPTCP RFC”) are hereby incorporated by reference.
MPTCP sets up multiple TCP sub-flows (e.g., LTE and Wifi) for a single TCP Socket connection with an application. MPTCP divides packets between the available sub-flows according to end-to-end bandwidth as sensed by a TCP congestion control/avoidance. Hence, fewer or more packets may be sent on one of the sub-flows based on the end-to-end bandwidth sensed between the UE and an MPTCP compatible server in the network. Sub-flows may be added or dropped as access options come and go, allowing for seamless mobility from the perspective of the application and user.
3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) also defines an access selection control for non-3GPP access such as Wifi versus 3GPP Access. 3GPP has specified a policy based decision process based on an Access Network Discovery and Selection (ANDSF) function. ANDSF allows the mobile operator to specify Inter-System Routing Policies (ISRPs) that indicate whether a flow or service should be routed over a Wifi or 3GPP access when the UE is simultaneously connected to both.